Granit Shala will have to look elsewhere as Joe Joyce loses interest in title fight
Joe Joyce (15-2, 14KOs) is preparing to face Kash Ali (21-2, 12KOs) on March 16 in Birmingham. Ali will be hoping hoping for a shock upset following his points loss to Bohdan Myronets in July.
Joyce looked ready to fight for the EBU Heavyweight title after his bout with Ali. However, it appears the British fighting man is preparing for bigger and better things as he has pulled out of purse negotiations for the prospective matchup.
The EBU has released a statement explaining the current situation regarding the vacant heavyweight belt.
“The most prestigious of all the EBU-titles, the Heavyweight championship, has been fought for the last time on 04/03/2023, almost one year ago. The EBU-champion, Agit Kabayel (GER), succeeded to stop the no. 4 of the WBC-World Ratings, and consequently relinquished his EBU-title, and is now trying to fight for one of the world titles.
“After long discussions, the no. 4 of the EBU-Ratings, Joe Joyce (GB) and the no. 20, Granit Shala (GER) eventually seemed ready to meet for the vacant title. Unfortunately the parties did not find an agreement, Joe Joyce (GB) pulled out, and the General Secretary is again on the lookout for a co-challenger available to fight Granit Shala (GER)…… time is running!!”
The supposed agreement between Shala (15-0, 5KOs) and Joyce was short-lived. The German was originally scheduled to face Daniel Dubois for the European strap before DDD also pulled out.
German promoter Ingo Volckmann, has expressed his disappointment over the breakdown in negotiations.
“It’s really annoying that this fight doesn’t happen either. I would also have loved to bring him to Germany and have him as the second main fight on April 6th in Falkensee before Jack [Culcay’s] world championship fight.”
“We are currently exploring the possibilities with our matchmaker Hagen Döring and are also talking to Granit’s team.”
‘Juggernaut’ is coming off the back of back-to-back losses to Zhilei Zhang. A win for the 38-year-old in March could prove exactly what the 38-year-old needs to get his career back on track.